Getting the Most Out of a Rainy Disneyland Day

It might be a bummer if it starts to rain on your Disneyland vacation, but that rain cloud has a serious silver lining: smaller crowds. A large population of Disneyland guests are locals, and if it starts raining, they tend to clear out. So if you’re not afraid of a little rain, I suggest you embrace the weather and enjoy the space and lighter crowds. I’ve got a bunch of tips and helpful info so you can fully prepare and use the rain to your advantage. 

Prepare

It tends to rain the most in the winter and early spring months. Southern California doesn’t get a ton of rain, but if your trip is anywhere between November through April I highly recommend checking out the upcoming weather forecast. I mean I recommend you do this all the time for any vacation but like...especially double November through April. 

Good things to pack for California Rain:

Rain jacket with hood

Hat to keep rain off your face

Comfortable waterproof shoes

Extra pair of shoes and socks

Lighter sweaters and tanks/shirts to layer (bring extras)

Waterproof/resistant backpack or purse 

Waterproof bags to stash soaked clothes and shoes

Waterproof baggies (reusable is best) just in case!

How to dress

Like every other day in California, you want to dress in lighter layers bc CA likes to keep people on their toes. It’s not guaranteed it’ll rain all day, so you’ll want to be able to adjust as the weather morphs. 

I’d also recommend skipping the umbrella and opting for a rain jacket and lightweight waterproof shoes/boots. If you didn’t pack a rain jacket, you can buy a plastic poncho at the shops by the water rides (Splash Mountain in Disneyland and Grizzly River Run in DCA).  Wearing big galoshes might keep your feet dry, but they’ll become cumbersome and heavy, and they’ll tire you out early, so go for something lighter on your feet.

My best tip is to grab a locker. You can stuff everyone’s layers and a towel in the locker and you’ll be prepared without having to lug everything around. I also recommend packing an extra change of clothes for everyone including an extra pair of socks and shoes. If your shoes happen to get wet, there’s nothing nicer than changing into a fresh dry pair of everything. It’s a serious power boost. 

Ride Closures

Some attractions in Disneyland temporarily close due to safety issues, they are:

Disneyland

Alice in Wonderland

Davy Crockett Explorer Canoes

Gadget Go Coaster (Toon Town)

The Mad Tea Party

Main Street Vehicles

Pirates Lair on Tom Sawyer’s Island

Storybook Boats

DCA

Golden Zephyr

Goofy’s Sky School

Jumpin Jellyfish

Luigi’s Rollickin’ Roadsters 

Redwood Creek Challenge Trail

Rides to avoid if you dont wanna get wet

Lots of rides stay open in the rain, however if you’re trying to stay dry, there are some you might want to avoid.

Disneyland

Autopia

Astro Orbitors

Matterhorn (especially if you ride the left track)

Big Thunder Railroad

Tarzan’s Treehouse

Jungle Cruise

I feel like Splash Moutain’s a given although the line will be super short! If you want to ride Splash Mountain and get as least wet as possible, ask to sit in the last row.

DCA

Incredicoaster

Silly Symphony Swings

Emotional Whirlwind

Pixar Pal Around (if rain’s coming in sideways)

Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree 

Radiator Springs Racers (indoor mostly, but there’s an outdoor portion)

Grizzy River Run (also a given but also will have a super short line. Alas, there is no safe seat on Grizzly. You WILL get soaked and there is no avoiding it). 

***While some rides take place inside, their lines can extend outside. Use your judgement on a case-by-case basis whether or not to wait in a specific line during the rain.*** 

Indoor Activities vs. Outdoor Shows

If you’re in the mood to embrace the rain, you can take in the Rainy Day Cavalcade. Mickey and Friends come down Main Street in the covered Main Street vehicles and it’s pretty cute! It’s a shorty parade, but they only do it in the rain, so it’s a special thing to see!

On the flip side, there’s lots of indoor activities to take in. If you normally feel bad about slowing down to watch the indoor shows, rainy days are the perfect time to do a lil show-hopping. You can fully enjoy them knowing you don’t have to be grabbing a spot for a parade, waiting on Main Street for fireworks, or waiting in lines for rides that are now shut down. 

***Heads up! Outdoor Parades (besides the Rainy Day Cavalcade) and Fireworks will typically be canceled. If it’s just raining, show cancelations tend to be decided around the scheduled show time. All outdoor shows will be cancelled in instances of lightning.*** 

Indoor shows in Disneyland

>Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln 

Okay so a little boring but you gotta do it at least once and it’s a great spot for a power nap. There’s also lots of good indoor sitting space in the lobby if you need an indoor break but don’t want to confront your fear of Robot Lincoln. 

>Main Street Cinema 

A magical little spot to watch some of the original Mickey Mouse shorts. They recently added benches inside, so it’s a good spot if you need to kick up your feet for a bit. 

>Tiki Room 

You can bring a dole whip in with you. Have a lil snack and sing. 

>Path of the Jedi at the Tomorrowland Theater (next to Space Mountain)

It’s no Honey, I Shrunk the Audience but it’s a fine way to recap the Star Wars movies with some seat shaking. Seat shakign as in they shake the seats for some reason. Maybe for drama? It’s not an earthquake, whatever it is. 

>Storytelling at the Royal Theatre (to the left of the Castle if you’re looking from the front)

Seats can go fast for this, so I recommend showing up 10 minutes early. But it’s a sweet little show that’s protected from the rain. They switch off doing speedy versions of Tangled and Beauty and the Beast. Check the daily times-guide if there’s a specific one you want to watch. 

>Mickey and the Magical Map (sit closer to the stage for more protection from the rain)

A fun 22-minute show that follows Mickey through a magical map to visit favorite Disney characters and sing songs and do some dancing in bubbles. The theater is outside but it’s covered. I recommend sitting closer to the stage for the most rain protection. The show runs Friday-Monday. 

Indoor Shows at DCA

>Frozen Live at the Hyperion 

The line for the show is outside, and they typically have people start to line up early. Honestly all seats have a pretty good view, so I’d recommend showing up closer to show time to avoid waiting outside for too long. You’ll be able to either follow the balcony folks up the stairs, or you’ll be led by a cast member to open seats. You’ll typically be seated farther back in the balcony but the stage is large and the sound quality in the whole theatre is great.

>Animation Academy Building (why don’t they have a name for this building???)

If you’re walking down toward Hollywood Backlot, you’ll find the building on your right. This is such a special place in general, but it’s a nice space to escape the rain. The main space in the building has lots of places to sit and rest while taking in the big projected behind the scenes of Disney classics. 

Within the building are a few fun activities. Turtle Talk with Crush is an interactive Finding Nemo experience. The actual Animation Academy activity teaches you how to draw different Disney characters. It’s led by an artist and they guide everyone in a fairly fool-proof way. Across from Animation Academy you can animate your own drawings and take a quiz to find out which Disney character you are in the Beast’s Library. There’s also a section where you can meet Anna, Elsa, and Olaf from Frozen which is FINE but there used to be a Toy Story Zoetrope AND beasts library used to lead into Ursula’s grotto where you could voice record over Disney movie scenes and they took that all away for Frozen and I’ll never be not bitter about that. 

>Mickey’s Philharmagic

Wait! I’m still bitter about more things! You’ll find Mickey’s Philharmagic in the theater behind Award Weiners, next to Monster’s Inc. and it’s cute and fine but it used to be Muppet Vision and I think they should make MORE things Muppets but they keep taking Muppets away and IT UPSETS ME. Oh right the rain stuff, uh, this is a 8-10 minutes 3D show and it’s cute. It’s not Muppets cute but. It’s fine. I’m fine. 

>Disney Jr Dance Party

Best for the kiddos. You’ll generally see a long line wrapping around the building beforehand (line is covered btw) but it’s very unnecessary to wait in line. Once they let everyone in the line go through they open all the doors and any stragglers can come in. There’s plenty of space and your kid won’t have any problems letting loose any sweet moves they might have stored up. 

Indoor character meet and greets

Most of the times, they’ll keep the character meet and greets on Main Street since they can maneuver the characters to covered spaces, but if you don’t want to deal with waiting in the rain, there are some spots in both parks that let you wait in covered spaces for meet and greets.

Disneyland

>Launch Bay in Tomorrowland for lots of Star Wars characters

>Mickey and Minnies houses in Toon Town

>Princess Fantasy Faire in Fantasyland (the portion to the left of the Castle looking from the front)

DCA

>Animation Academy to meet Anna, Elsa, and Olaf

>You can also do character dining to meet tons of characters while grabbing a meal. Character dining takes place at Goofy’s Kitchen in the Disneyland Hotel, Paradise Grill (not recommended) in Paradise Pier, Storytellers in the Grand Californian, and breakfast at Plaza Inn in Disneyland. You typically need a reservation for character dining, but I’ve had the best luck grabbing last minute reservations (day-of) at Storytellers in the Grand Californian.

Good Rainy Day Snacks with Covered Seating

Toasted cheese sandwich and tomato soup from Jolly Holiday

Abuelita Hot Chocolate from Jolly Holiday

Baked Potato from Troubadour Tavern (by Mickey and the Magical Map)

Fried Chicken, Pot Roast, or Salmon from Plaza Inn

Smoked Kaduu Pork Ribs from Docking Bay 7 

Filmores Pot Pie from Flo’s

Sea Salt Caramel Hot Chocolate from Ghirardelli on the Pacific Wharf (there are some covered seats outside)

Jack Jack Cookie Num Num from Pixar Pier (next to Incredicoaster) (no seating but you can go into the shops)

Mac and Cheese from Smokejumpers 

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And there you have it! All our best Disneyland in the rain tips jam packed into way too long of a post. But now you know how we do it, and most importantly, you know all the best cozy snacks. 

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